How Vegan?

From the introduction to the rap session by Matt Ball at AR2003 East in
June:

Before we open it up for discussion, I want to make three quick points.

1. Our purpose as animal activists is to help people open their hearts and
minds. If we are going to make progress in lessening and eventually ending cruelty
to animals, it is going to be because more and more people are able to give
up their preconceptions and consider new ideas.

The best way to achieve this is to be an example of an open mind, rather than
being judgmental. As much as we would prefer it to be otherwise, the world isn’t
black-and-white, with clear and easy answers to everything. When we act as if
we knew everything and our audience are wrong about everything, we do very little
to open their minds to new ideas.

2. To me, veganism has nothing to do with being pure or perfect. A vegan diet
is merely a tool to reduce suffering. It is not the tool, but one of many different
tools.

Given the immensity of the animal agriculture industry, government subsidies,
and the tremendous waste in this country, the signal of one consumer is almost
certainly drowned out. In other words, if I were to go out and buy a Big Mac
right now, the probability that this choice would have a concrete impact on
the amount of suffering in the world – another steer or dairy cow bred
and slaughtered – is absolutely miniscule.

Although we like to say that we are “saving dozens of animals”
every year by being vegan, this probably isn’t entirely accurate. Our
personal veganism is more important as an example to others, a means of speaking
for the animals hidden from the public’s view. Our personal veganism is
most powerful as part of a growing boycott of the cruelty in factory farms and
industrial slaughterhouses. In this respect, our example is again more important
than the details of our choices.

3. Some advocates pick certain “marketing” strategies to apply
to their activism. Often, though, activists forget the single underlying principle
of all marketing (and psychology): People want to be happy.

This is perhaps the most significant problem for advocates. Many of us are,
understandably, enraged and/or depressed about the atrocities in factory farms
and industrial slaughterhouses. However justified our anger, the vast majority
of people aren’t going to open their hearts and minds to a negative message,
one that can be easily caricatured as deprivation and isolation to no concrete
end.

So these are my premises: our goal is to open people’s hearts and minds;
veganism matters as a tool to reduce suffering and is meaningful as part of
a growing boycott of cruelty; and veganism is sometimes dismissed as contradictory
to happiness. If you accept these, the “How vegan” question that
needs to be answered isn’t, “How far should I take my personal veganism,”
but “How can I be the best vegan example?”

Vegan Outreach is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization dedicated to reducing the suffering of farmed animals by promoting informed, ethical eating.